Electronics Team: Mid-Term Review

So far, the Powertrain, Chassis and Dynamics teams have let us in on what they’re doing day-to-day in the pits. Now, it’s the turn of Laurence Parkins, Electronics Team Manager, to feed back what his team have been doing over the past six weeks!

I have around 15 members engaged across four different teams, working on traction control, electronic throttle, wireless telemetry and data acquisition. In the past six weeks, a lot of time has been focused on making sure the team is up to speed with the systems that we use, for them to then go on and develop designs. Team members will collaborate to combine the best features of each proposal, testing prototype systems on WR5 along the way.

Last year’s team placed many efforts in creating a Data Acquisition system (DAQ), which we are very lucky to have been left with. While unfinished, the system created is flexible and full of many features to explore. It will be built upon this year to both power our control systems and validate the designs of other teams.

Day-to-day, my job is to make sure each team is working towards a common technical goal, by looking at the overall strategy of Warwick Racing this season. I also design the framework within which all the new electronic systems will operate and interact, and prepare the prototype electronics package for each testing session, based on each team’s progress, to ensure we make the best use of available track time.

Through each of these projects, as Electronics Manager I also dedicate efforts to ensuring that our components meet competition criteria, making us both legal and effective.